Safety railway-brake



1. B. WRIGHT AND F. 0. LAWSON.

SAFETY RAILWAY BRAKE.

APPLlcATloN FILED DEC. 19, 1919.

Patentedsept. 14,1920.

UNITED-fisuras PATENT orifice.

JOHN B. waIeH'riiNnY FRANS o. LAwsoN7, or ennnNsBonO, NORTHOAROLINA,

ASSIGN ORS TO WRIGHT SAFETY i AIR-BRAKE COMPANY, OF GREECDTSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, A CORPORATION OF NORTH CAROLINA.

SAFETY vRAILWAY-BRAKE.

Application filed December 19, 1919. Serial No. 345,979.

To all/whom it may concern v Be it known that we, JOHN B. WRIGHT and F RANs O. LAWSON, citizens of the United States, residing at Greensboro, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina,

. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Railway-Brakes; and we do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to brake mechanism for railway cars, etc., and more especially to mechanism designed for the purpose of applyingfthe brakes in case of an abnormal displacement of the trucks with relation to .the body -of a car, such,for example, as

would be occasioned by an -abnormal movement of the body with relation to the trucks caused, for instance, by high speed over a poor track, a partial or total derailment of the truck, splitting a switch, or any one of the numerous conditions .which are usually the remote or approximate cause of a great majority of railway accidents.

Apparatus of the general type referredto is now in public use and is recognized by those familiar with the art as a product of the fright Safety Air Brake Company, and features of the appliances now in use are illustrated in the patents toy Wright, No.

947 ,142, and No. 978,97 9, and in the patent to Wright & Lawson, No. 1,115,644, to ,which reference may be had for disclosure-of features which may aid in an understanding of the present invention.

One object of the present invention isto provide an improved means whereby abnormal displacement of the body of the car with relation to the .trucks or of the trucks with relation to the body may be made effective for operating a brake setting valve.

As in the prior devices of this character, the valve and one of the actuating members therefor, inthe form of aV pin, are-care ried on the car body anda second operating member is secured to the car truck. This second operating member completely sur-y rounds or encircles the operating member carried on the car body and with the devices as heretofore constructed it has been impossible to remove the car body from the trucks without either removing the valve Vfrom the car body or the operatingmember from the truck, to avoidpermanently damaging the valve and its actuating mechanism. Another object ofthe present'invention is to Overcome this defect and to vprovide means whereby the car body may be intentionally v removed from the trucks without removal or injury of the valve mechanism, or otherwise destroyin truck and body are re-assembled.

g their operative relation when the n Referring to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view illustrating one end of ak car body with its truck more or less diagrammatically shown and with a brake controlling mechanism embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view ofthe valve mechanism and the operating mechanism therefor. Y p

.'F ig. 3 is a detail view of the actuating pin. Y

Fig. 4 is a similar view of the operating member which is mounted on the truck; and

` Fig. '5 is a section in Vavertioal plane through Vthe parts shown in Fig. 4.

A portion of the car body is indicated at A in Fig. 1 and the truck frame or bolster at B, the truck frame being pivotally connectedl with the car body A in the usual manner. The usual appliances are provided fork permitting of a limited relative movement of the truck'frame and car body for turning'curves as well as the necessary or desirable spring action to relievefj ars due to roughness of the track` or roadbed.

The valve indicatedat C in the drawings may be any valve which, when actuated will bleed the train pipe soV as to set thebrakes, and in order that when once actuatedgit may be held in its actuating position, until manually closed or allowed to close, it is provided v with ya catch or locking device.A The. valve adapted for illustrating the invention is one which corresponds closelyV with the' `valve commonly employed in safety railway brake equipment, as above referred toA and embodies va casing D havingV an inwardly open! ing valve E. The casing D is secured tothe car body adjacent thetruck frame by` hangers cl, and is in communication with the train pipeof the brake'systeni in suchV wise :A

in the casing at D intermediate to the valve E and an actuating member H to be presently described.

The actuating mechanism is of necessity located in proximity' to one of the trucks of the car and it embodies as heretofore, a member or a pair of adjustable members G mounted on or rigidly, but adjustably, connected with the truck bolster B and having an aperture therein properly shaped tc receive an actuating pin or member H for the valve E with suflicient clearance between the pin H and the members G to permit of the desired normal relative movement between the truck bolster and the body of the car. The pin H is formed as a part of the mecha.- nism which will be operated to effect the .desired movement of the valve, regardless of the direction in which the stem may be moved.v As a convenient and preferred arrangement the pin H referred to projects from the periphery of a disk-like member K horizontally through an opening in the valve casing which will permit the pin to swing through a very considerable are in any direction. The periphery of the disk-like member has a circular projection K on each side and constitutes a pivot which is universal and the pin H and the d islelike member K jointly form a lever fulcrumed on a seat L in the bottom of the valve casing. A cooperating disk-like member M which occupies the space between the disk member K and the spool F will, upon a movement yof the operating pin H upward or downward from the horizontal plane in which it is normally positioned, be displaced upwardly as indicated in dotted lines and this movement is utilized for actuating the valve E controlling the bleeding` of the train pipe for setting the brakes. faces of the disk members K and VM areV provided at their center with a cooperating circular projection and recess which maintain the` disk members in proper position.

To unseat the valve E upon ahorizontal movementof the actuating pin H the seat L is provided with an elongated transverse recess 1, the side walls of which are inclined to form cam surfaces adapted to cooperate with the inclined side faces of an elongated projection N yon the adjacent side of the disk-like member K, ofthe actuating pin H.

VvlVhen the pin H is movedv horizontally or laterally by abnormal relative movement of the truck and' car body bringing the actuating member G; on the truck Vin contact with it, the cam faces formed by vthe/side walls of 'ating the* vvalve E.

The adj acentV the recess and the projection on member K, will elevate the inembervK and move the valve E ofi of its seat.. The pin and its head yor disk-like end thus form a universal lever which willlift the valve when swung in any direction.

rEhe operating member Gr, held by brackets G, on` the truck bolster, is preferably constructed of parts g, g, adjustable toward and away from each other so that the size of the opening through which the operating pin H extends may be varied to permit of any desired degree of relative movement of the car body and truck frame without actu- As heretofore mentioned, however, the operatingv members of the prior' devices of this character are yof `siiigcliconstructionA as toy necessitate the def tachmentof the valve and pin l-lfrom the car body `or the member Gr from' the truck or the damage of those parts when it is de sired to raise the `car body off of the trucks.

In the present invention this necessity of removal' or damage of the valve or its actuating parts is eliminated byv providing one of the parts g of the operating member G with va slot S through which the actuating pin-'H may b'e passed when the CM rbody is will be moved laterally or horizontally, thus effecting the unseating of valve E as before described, The walls ,forming the entrance to theslotarepreferably inclined to guide the pin into and o ut of the-slot, whereby the car bodj, may Vbe jacked up and the truck removed or replaced withoutdanger of breaking lthe safety devices. It will be noted that the 'pin cannot pass through: the slot without unseating the valve so that the etciency of the device'is not impaired.

That is claimedy is: A l. In a derailment control mechanism for railway brakes,l the combination of the valve carried on the car body, an actuating memf ber therefor movable laterally 'and vertically'in any directionA by relative abnormal movements of the car body and truck to unseat said valve, a bearing member for said actuating member, coperating cam surfaces on the 'actuating and bearing mem'-K bers a'daptedtoV move the actuating member away' from"` the`A bearing member in a' direc-y tion vat" -`ubstantially right angles tothe face I truck and car body,

and a second operating member carried by the truck adapted to 0perate said actuating member.`

2. In a derailment control mechanism for railway brakes, the combination of the valve carried on the car body, an actuating 'member therefor movable laterally and ver tically in any direction by relative abnormal movements of the car body and truck to unseat said valve, a bearing member for said actuating member, cooperating cam surfaces on the actuating and bearingmembers adapted to move the actuating member away from the bearing member in a direction at substantially right angles tothe face ofthe bearing member to unseat the valve upon relative abnormal movements of the truck and car body, and a second operating member carried by the truck and loosely encircling the first-mentioned actuating member and adapted to operate said actuating member.

3. In a derailment control mechanism for railway brakes, the combination of the valve carried on the car body, anl actuator therefor movable laterally and vertically in any direction to open the valve, and an operating vmember carried by the truck encircling the actuating member and adapted to operate said actuating member, and means formed in the operating member on the truck for permitting removal of the actuating member from within the same in a vertical plane.

4L. In a derailment control mechanism for railway brakes, the combination of the valve carried on the car body, an actuating member therefor movable laterally and vertically in any direction by relative abnormal movements of the car body and truck to unseat said valve, a bearing member for said actuating member, coperating cam surfaces on the actuating and bearing members whereby the valve will be unseated by relative abnormal movements of the truck and car body, and a second operating member carried` by the truck and loosely encircling the first-mentioned actuating member and adapted to operate said actuating member, the operating member on the truck having a slot formed therein for removal of the actuating member, and the walls of said slot being angularly disposed with respect to the path in which the operating member on the truck travels during abnormal relative veractuating memberthrough said slot will unseat the valve. v

5. In a derailment controlling mechanism for railway brakes the combination o'f the valve casing carried on the car body, a bearing seat in the valve casing, an actuating member for thev valve pivoted near one end on the bearing seat and movable universally on an aXiswithin the bearing seat, means for unseating the valve when the actuating member is moved above orbelow the horizontal, cooperatingv cam surfaces on the bearing s eat and actuating member for unseating the valve when the actuating member is moved laterally, and a second operating member carried by the truck for effecting movements of the actuating member upon relative abnormal movements of the car body and truck. y Y

6. In a derailment controlling mechanism for railway brakes, the combination with the valve carried on the car body, a bearing seat having an elongated recess in one of` its faces, an actuating member for the valve movable vertically or laterally in any direction to open thevvalve, lsaid actuating member having an enlarged end, an elongated projection on the enlarged end of the actuating member normally seated in the recess inthe bearing seat, and adapted to force the valve off of its seat when moved out of said recess in the bearing seat, and al secondl operating member carried by the truck adapted to operate thefirst mentioned actuating member upon relative abnormal vertical or lateral movement of the car truck and body.

7. In a derailment controlling mechanism for railway brakes, the combination of the valve carried on the car body, an actuator therefor movable laterally in any direction y and vertically to open the valve, and an operating' member carried by the truck encircling the actuating member, said operatunseat the valve.

JOHN B. WRIGHT. FRANS O.-LAWSON. 

